Fig Birthday Cake and Fig Jam

It has been all about figs in this house lately. This is the point when we are harvesting 5 to 7 figs  per day so it was a no brainer when I was deciding what kind of cake to make for my husband's birthday. 

The day before his birthday I made a badge of fig jam and I used some of it to make  fig swiss meringue buttercream. The actual batter does not have figs since I decided to top the cake with fresh figs. I think It would have been too much. The cake came out really good and moist. This is my go-to recipe that I use over and over for a simple yellow cake. The birthday boy really liked his cake and that was the whole point (and to use up all the fig, shhh… don't tell him)

Happy birthday to you my love!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature

1 cup milk, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla 

2 Lg eggs, room temperature

Preheat the oven 350 F.  Grease and flour  a 9-inch round baking pans, set aside.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix the dry ingredients just to blend. Add the vegetable shortening to the dry ingredients and blend on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes. In a mixing bowl, whisk to blend the milk, vanilla and eggs. On medium speed, slowly add half of the liquid to the dry ingredients and blend well, slowly add the other half and mix until well combined. Turn the speed up and mix for 30 seconds or until batter is smooth. Bake in the prepared pan for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack completely before adding swiss buttercream.

Fig Swiss Buttercream

1/3 cup fig jam (recipe follow)

5 lg egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

3 sticks butter

Whip together the sugar and egg whites in a double boiler (I used the bowl of 

my electric mixer over a pot of simmering water) Just make sure the water doesn't touch the bowl, whip until sugar dissolves. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip  the mixture to soft peaks. Add the butter a tablespoon at a time until all the butter is incorporated and fluffy. At this point, add the fig jam and mix until well combined. 

For the Jam

(makes about 3 cups)

2 lb Figs, halves

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, combine all the ingredients. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens.

Here is my little secret, instead of using a potato masher to break down the figs, I use a hand blender, but be careful not to over blend. A food processor will work too. Fill glass jars with hot fig jam and enjoy.

To assemble the cake:

Carefully cut cake in two layers and spread one third of the swiss buttercream onto the cake and place the second layer on top. Spread the top and the sides with the remaining swiss buttercream. Place slices of fresh figs on top.

The App That Didn't Happen

Some time ago, someone approached me asking if I would be interested in having an app developed of my blog (for free, I did not put any money on this). The app was going to be available for download to Iphones and Ipads. I got so excited and almost immediately said yes. 

I, of course,  went to their website, checked their profile and did my little research. The company is based in Dublin, Ireland with an office in New York, everything looked legit. They said they wanted the app to focus on baked goods rather than savory dishes, we were going to use some of my existent recipes but I had to come up with 10 cupcake recipes to make the app more "special". I had a period 

of two months to create and photograph the recipes. When I was finally done, I sent all my artwork to them and they gave me a release date which I was expecting anxiously. That day never came. I didn't get an email or anything with an explanation. A few days later I sent them an email asking what the status of the app was. 

A week later they sent me an apology email saying that the release date changed because "they had a lot of work" and they hadn't even started on the app yet.  "it should be ready in a month"  they said. A month went by and, guess what? No news from them. At that point I knew that it wasn't going to happen anymore but I was still curious to know what kind of "excuse" they would give me this time. So I sent them an email and they replied 3 weeks later saying "Sorry, we have a lot of work right now and we are not able to go through this project at the moment. Since we have no contract, feel free to look for another developer" 

I was sad, I admit it. Not only because I worked and put a lot of thought into this app but also because of my inexperience. The way I handled it, I probably should have asked for a contract, I don't know, what would you have done in my place? I guess you live and learn and this was for sure a lesson. 

For the longest time I didn't know what to do with all the recipes and I didn't want to just post them on the blog like nothing ever happened. I created the recipes for something special therefore I wanted to do something special with them. But I had another issue, I was embarrassed to tell the story. But one day I said "wait a minute, I did nothing wrong, inexperience is not a sin, it's a part of life. THEY should be the ones embarrassed, not me"  And that's how "Delicious Cupcakes" was created. I have been working on this post for a couple of weeks. Not only designing everything but also writing the story, hoping that people can take note and perhaps be more cautious if they come across with something like this. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Open publication - Free publishing - More bake

Late Summer Fishing

I remember back in Honduras when we used to go fishing. I wasn't too good then, nothing has really changed. But I do enjoy going with my family since it is a nice way to spend time together. I took my son clam fishing for the first time. He loved the experience and I dare to say he is hooked. 

It was the first time for me as well, we were not prepared with fancy tools but I saw some people using their bare hand and they had at least 25 pounds of big clams. My eyes opened wide when I saw that and I immediately asked them "Can you please teach me that technique?" They smile and said "there is no technique, just use your hands and if it feels like a clam, then most likely it is one". Mmmmm OK, that was easy enough. 

Our goal was to fish enough clams for dinner that night and so we did. We caught about 2 dozens and I was one happy mama. I prepared them really simple, some white wine, garlic, lemon and toasted baguette. I love this with pasta too but bread soaks all the sauce better and I have to tell you, that was my favorite part. 

Ingredients:

24 clams, cleaned 

3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped onions

4 garlic cloves

2 cup white wine

4 tbsp butter

salt and pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice 

parsley

Heat the olive oil, add the onion and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring, for another minute. Then add the wine, salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Now is time to add the clams and butter. Cover the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the clams open. Take them off the heat add the lemon juice and parsley. Serve with toasted baguette.

Lemon-Basil Sorbet

See what this heat is doing to me? I'm living off ice creams, cold drinks, cherry tomatoes and sorbets. I'm actually late delivering this post, it's been in my draft for a while but today I'm finally posting the recipe. 

This is a very simple recipe, with a few ingredients you get a refreshing lemony treat. I love to pair lemon with basil. I think they go amazing together and in this case, the mild flavor of basil works beautifully. 

If you don't have an ice cream maker you can make granite. Just pour the mixture into a container, place it in the freezer and use a fork to scrape the surface when it starts to set. Keep scraping every 30 minutes until it resembles "snow". It works fantastic this way too. 

Ingredients: 

3 cups water

1 cup lemon juice plus the 

zest of 2 lemons

1- 1/8 cups sugar

1 cup of basil leaves

In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat and add the basil leaves. Let it steep for 10 minutes then strain it and discard the leaves. Let the syrup cool completely. When cool, add the lemon juice and zest, stir until well combined. Let the mixture chill in the fridge for a couple of hours of overnight. When ready, pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and follow manufacture's instructions.